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Core Faculty, Center for Creative Change
Summary of Education and Relevant Experience
 A.A.S., Montgomery County Community College of Pennsylvania; B.A., West Chester University; M.S.W., University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., University of Tennessee.
Scherch's background is as diverse as his current pursuits. He is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (Jamaica, 1991–93) with graduate degrees in social work and career experience in clinical counseling, child protective services and community organizing. His current work focuses on social justice, ecological design and sustainable community development. Areas of research and community practice include:
- At-risk and environmental refugee populations;
- Climate change, peak oil impacts and implications for social work;
- Integrated resource systems and appropriate technologies
(i.e., food security, renewable energies, green building design, etc.);
- Interdisciplinary education and curriculum design.
Visit his website at www.designtrek.net.
Core faculty at AUS since 1998 and former director and chair of the Environment and Community program, Scherch's earlier work focused on studies of bioregionalism and related social, economic and environmental contexts. More recently, his work leads around the world — into Tibetan refugee settlements in India, into bamboo forests in China and into slum communities in Bangladesh. In 2006/07, he completed a 7-month sabbatical in China, teaching and conducting collaborative inquiries on bamboo resource systems for sustainable development at Zhejiang Forestry University. Click here and listen to an interview on his research in China.
He presently directs the development of Pacific Bamboo Resources, an institute involving international collaborators and AUS students focusing on innovations within emerging bamboo economies that advance carbon ethics and climate recovery, ecological restoration and improved quality of livelihood.
Affiliations
- Member, Northwest Ecobuilding Guild
- Member, American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association
- Affiliate, International Network for Bamboo and Rattan
- Member, International Organization for Biotechnology & Bioengineering
- Member, Auxiliary Communications Service, City of Seattle,
Emergency Management
- Founding member, Board of Directors, Climate Solutions
- Former board president, Sustainable Pierce County
- Former board president, Tahoma Food Systems
Recent Publications
Scherch, J. (2008, 2004, 2000). Riverton: Envisioning a Sustainable Community. In D. Fauri, S. Wernet & F.E. Netting's (Eds.) Cases in Social Work Macro Practice, 3rd Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN: 0-205-49847-5.
Scherch, J. (2006). From Rhizome to Renaissance: Engaging Integral Bamboo Systems for Sustainable Development. International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 2(4). Paper presented at Annual Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, January, 2006.
Scherch, J. (2005). Sustainability in Exile: Envisioning Permanent Culture in Tibetan Refugee Settlements. International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, 1(1). Paper presented at Annual Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, February, 2005.
Scherch, J., Fraser, T., Lee Bradley, A. & Nolt, J. (2005). "Models of Sustainability." In John Nolt's (Ed.) A Land Imperiled: The Declining Ecological Health of Southern Appalachia. Knoxville University of Tennessee Press. ISBN: 1-572-33326-X.
On Interest Area
"I aspire to do what R. Buckminster Fuller envisioned: 'To make the world work for 100 percent of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.'"
On Teaching at Antioch
"Like my Peace Corps experience, 'the toughest job you'll ever love.' An enterprise of rigorous and vigorous fun."
Contact Information
Center for Creative Change
206-268-4908
Jonathan Scherch
206-268-4710
E-mail
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